Hey everyone,
In my travels around steemit, I have noticed a topic that seems to pop up quite a bit, and that is the use of upvoting bots, more specifically, the question of whether or not they are appropriate and how or if their "over-use" is considered abuse.
After reading all of the comments on his post, I left this response:
From what I see here, there are two distinct camps; one is hoping for a near-perfect world where people would use some common sense and use the bots when they've created something worthwhile. And yes, I realise that's all semantics because who then decides what 'quality content' means. This group also believes in the sheer quality that exists on this platform and the possibility for it to continue to grow, but with 'quality users' to go along with that 'quality content'. The second camp tends to lean towards the idea if you can't beat 'em, join 'em; not to abuse the system like 'they' do, but to earn something on your own quality content. This camp prefers to view the bots as a way to make well-deserved money, because after all, this is a job and in this world, we make money at our job and simply deserve it. If you don't like that someone is earning more, the beauty is that you too can work harder and earn more as well. I think the one general consensus everyone's agreeing with is that the people who post garbage and make piles of money on it simply because they are taking advantage of the voting bots shouldn't be allowed.
When I began on steemit just 2 months ago, I 'dabbled' in upvoting bots to try and figure them out. If I had a post that I deemed 'good quality', but because of my 'newness' hadn't received much from it, I tried to use the bots to basically "pay myself for a job well done". Other times, I tried them on some photos or posts that didn't take a lot of work, and felt like I had given myself a birthday present when it wasn't my birthday...not very deserving and I must admit, I didn't feel right about it. Or I had a post that was dedicated to my friend who was dying of cancer and all proceeds were going to her foundation....a very good reason to use a bot I think. I have since quit using them altogether now and will gauge my growth organically. I do believe in the power of quality posts, but more so, at my stage here, I believe in the power of commenting and developing community in the hopes of earning true followers who want to upvote my work. Time will tell, but I'll be very curious to see what you come up with here!
https://steemit.com/steemit/@ilyastarar/detailed-opinion-on-appropriate-use-of-upvote-bots-bot-abuse-and-quality-content
He states that they could be used for the following:
1. Promotion of Good Quality Content
2. Spreading an Urgent But Important Information
3. Promoting Your Content in Specific Tags to Reach Focused Audience
but not used in these circumstances:
1. Using Bid Bots on Plagiarized/Spam Content
2. Getting Massive Votes on Low-Quality Content
3. Voting Late on Your Posts
4. Using Bots for ROI
5. Abuse of Reputation Score Algorithm
6. Excessive Use of Bid Bots
7. Using Bid Bots Too Early
For specific details, please check out his blog because it is certainly worth reading! His purpose is to to open up the lines of communication surrounding bid bots also in the hopes of reaching some kind of consensus.
There is also the issue of the timing of upvoting bot use and the question of what exactly is quality content. 
I don't have the answers, but I'm curious what you guys think.
How should voting bots be used? Should they be used? Should their use somehow be standardized? Are there any easy answers here?
Thank you so much! Cheers :)
(all images from Google images)